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Broader Middle East and North Africa–U.S. Community College
Initiative
Responding to and Collaborating
With the Private Sector: A Road
Map to Stakeholder Engagement in
Workforce Development in Jordan
Authors:
Joan Smith, Dean and Executive Director, Rocky Mountain
Education Center, Red Rocks Community College, Colorado
Dr. Ayman Maqableh, Dean, Al Quds College, Amman, Jordan
Rula Sabbagh-Kawar, Senior HR Specialist Training,
Consolidated Contractors Company, Amman, Jordan

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August 2015
This case study is madepossibleby the generoussupportof theAmerican peoplethrough theUnited
StatesAgency forInternationalDevelopment(USAID) and theHigherEducation forDevelopment(HED)
program.Theauthors’viewsexpressed in thispublication do notnecessarily reflect the views of HED,
USAID,orthe United StatesGovernment.

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PARTNERSHIP AT A GLANCE
In the context of a need for greater employment opportunities for youth in
Jordan and prompted by a shared belief in engaging private industry in
partnerships and sustaining their involvement in the design of workforce
education training, Al-Huson University College in Jordan and Red Rocks
Community College in the United States collaborated to design a project
to develop new workforce education programs in the emerging renewable
energy and occupational health and safety sectors in Jordan.
PARTNERS
Red Rocks Community College, Lakewood, Colorado
Al-Huson University College (part of Al-Balqa Applied University), Irbid,
Jordan
USAID SUBAWARD SUPPORTUNDER LWA AEG-00-05-00007-00
Initial grant: $131,594 (August 1, 2010 – September 30, 2011)
Scale-up grant: $379,518 (January 1, 2012 – December 31, 2014)
Total Institutional Cost-share contribution: $224,884

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INTRODUCTION
In the context of a need for greater employment opportunities for youth in
Jordan and prompted by a shared belief in engaging private industry and
sustaining their involvement in the design of workforce education training, Al-
Huson University College (HUC) in Jordan and Red Rocks Community College
(RRCC) in the United States collaborated to develop new workforce education
programs in the emerging renewable energy and occupational health and safety
sectors in Jordan.
The project began in 2010 when Dr. Ayman Maqableh, an associate professor at
Al-Huson University College, contacted Red Rocks Community College Dean Joan
W. Smith regarding RRCC’s success in developing solar energy technicians in
Colorado. Their initial conversations focused on HUC’s innovative idea for a
proposed renewable energy program, the Green Energy Cluster, in which
employers and other stakeholders would provide curriculum oversight, guest
lecturing, and student internships. One novel aspect of the Cluster concept that
RRCC found particularly intriguing is that it sought industry input prior to the
establishment of a degree program. The Green Energy Cluster became the
foundation for a five-year project developed by the two institutions and funded
by USAID through a Higher Education for Development sub-award and scale-up
totaling just over $500,000.

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The authentic engagement in the Cluster by private industry and regional
stakeholders greatly expedited the work of the partners in this effort and, just
one year after their initial conversation, students were enrolling in the HUC Solar
Energy Technology Program in Irbid, Jordan. This paper describes the process of
working with industry stakeholders and how the two partners leveraged both
public and private sector support to successfully implement new degree
programs at HUC.
PARTNER INSTITUTIONS
Red Rocks Community College, opened in 1969, is one of 17 colleges in the
Colorado Community College System. RRCC has campuses in Lakewood and
Arvada, Colorado, both suburbs of Denver. RRCC averages an annual enrollment
of 12,000 students and offers more than 650 technical certificate programs in
addition to associate degrees in the arts and applied sciences. RRCC also
developed the first Bachelor of Applied Science to be conferred by a community
college in Colorado, in water quality management. Joan W. Smith, the RRCC
representative for the partnership, is dean and executive director of technical
programs at RRCC, including the renewable energy technology and the water
quality management programs. Ms. Smith leads the continuing education
division of the college as the executive director of the Rocky Mountain Education
Center, which is authorized by the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety

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and Health Administration (OSHA) as a regional OSHA Education and Training
Institute.
Al-Huson University College (HUC), located in Irbid, is one of 43 two-year
colleges in Jordan. The Al Balqa Applied University System oversees the two-year
schools, which include both public and private institutions. Program approval
authority is vested in the Deans Council of the Al Balqa Applied University
System. HUC has a track record of successfully working with USAID Jordan since
2007, when the USAID Jordan Economic Development Program funded the
establishment of the Al-Huson Career Development Center, the first of its kind at
any academic institute in Jordan. Dr. Ayman Maqableh, the HUC representative to
the partnership, served as director of the Career Development Center, which
connects with private industry to help students find jobs. HUC also previously
participated in public-private partnerships through the USAID/Jordan SHARAKA
initiatives, which matched vocational trainees and students with labor market
demands by offering graduates internships, scholarships, and on-the-job training
in cooperation with the public sector. Private partners began looking to HUC for
specific workforce training (e.g., the Consolidated Contractors Company
supporting the Piping Technology Training Program at the HUC campus), and
partners leveraged and expanded these private/public partnership models at
HUC under the new HED funding.
PROGRAM ACCOMPLISHMENTS
The partners created two new degree programs in career fields that had not
previously existed in the higher education system in Jordan—one in solar energy

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technology (SET) and another in occupational health, safety, and environment
(HSE). Both programs were designed to train safety officers for Jordan’s technical
workplaces. Development of both programs included approvals from the Deans
Council, professional development of instructors, enrollment and retention of
students in the programs, and assessment of student competencies measured
both in the classroom and in worksite internships. As of December, 2014,
enrollment in the Solar Energy Technology Program totaled 188 students, and 36
students had graduated from the program with an associate degree. To date
more than €9 million has been received from a variety of funding sources to
expand solar energy technology installations on the HUC campus. Sixty-five
students registered for the inaugural term of the Occupational Health and Safety
Program in Fall 2013, in part with private sector support from a key program
advisory committee member, Consolidated Contractors Company, which funded
renovations at Al Balqa Applied University’s Marka campus to house the program.
The partners completed a market and technology review of water management
and waste water treatment processes in Jordan and developed a plan to market
by-products of improved waste water management. The partners also created a
proposed study plan and course outlines for a new degree program in water
engineering. The partners are exploring a variety of funding streams to help with
the launch of the new program in water quality management and waste water
treatment.
CONTEXT IN JORDAN AND DEVELOPMENTOF THE PROJECT

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The workforce programs developed by the partners were grounded in Jordan’s
policies and economic development goals and designed with student
employment outcomes in mind.
Solar Energy Technology Program: The Jordanian Energy Strategy, issued in
2007, sought to address the unmanageable cost of the country’s energy
consumption, which had reached 20 percent of Jordan’s annual gross domestic
product. The strategy set a goal to increase the share of renewable energy in its
energy-use portfolio to 10 percent by 2020 (International Energy Agency, 2013).
The generation of electricity from solar has been comparatively slow in coming to
the Middle East, however the Renewable Energy and Efficiency Law, passed by
the Jordanian parliament in 2011, (GreenPeace, 2013, p. 4) pushed the country
toward wider adoption of renewable sources of power, including solar.
The Green Energy Cluster (GEC), formed by HUC in 2010, engaged new and
developing solar energy companies and stakeholders that have a vested interest
in creating a technical workforce to achieve ambitious goals for renewable energy
production in Jordan. The GEC was modeled after existing public/private
partnerships in higher education developed at HUC through previous initiatives,
such as the USAID-funded Career Development Center, the SHARAKA project’s
efforts to promote relations between the European Union and the Gulf
Cooperation Council, and a piping technology training program supported by the
Consolidated Contractors Company.
Through the GEC, the private sector supported HUC and RRCC staff and faculty in
adapting a curriculum provided by RRCC to employer expectations and working
conditions in Jordan.

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Occupational Health and Safety Program: Following successful networking
with and feedback from the employers and stakeholders engaged in the Solar
Energy Technology Program, the partners also undertook to develop a program
in occupational health and safety.
Jordan’s Labour Code includes provisions for stiff penalties for workplace
violations that result in worker injury or death, including the permanent closing of
a business. Under the Code, and as part of a national strategy to improve worker
safety and health, the Minister of Labour may appoint safety supervisors to be
present at worksites (ILO, 1996). Estimates of the number of safety supervisors
that are needed in Jordan exceed 5,000. To date these positions have not been
fully filled primarily due to a lack of qualified personnel. The occupational safety
and health professionals that do work in Jordan tend to be foreign nationals that
have been brought to Jordan by an employer that contracts with non-Jordanian
companies that require worker safety programs.
Prior to the launch of the Occupational Health and Safety Program at HUC in
2013, there were no training programs in Jordan’s higher education system in
occupational safety and health. The Occupational Safety and Health Institute
(OSHI), which had operated in Jordan as a vocational training program to help
bridge this gap, did not have broad support among employers. OSHI training had
not kept pace with the changing needs of industry in Jordan, and as a result
many employers were no longer willing to send their workers to the OSHI for
training.
Following a process similar to the one used to develop the Solar Energy
Technology Program and the Green Energy Cluster, the partners developed the
Occupational Health and Safety Program. Program development was aided by an

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advisory committee that included representatives of private sector businesses,
including heavy industry and construction. The Program Advisory Committee
(PAC) developed a job description for junior safety officers that was used to
identify student competencies.
ALIGNING CURRICULUMAND TRAINING TO NEEDS OF
JORDANIAN INDUSTRY
The process of working with industry stakeholders included synchronizing
training subjects and standards with industry requirements. As one lesson in the
course of research and collaboration with stakeholders, partners concluded that
broad new training programs in renewable energy and occupational health and
safety would be successful only if they were introduced gradually, if their
development was driven indigenously with industry input, and if the programs
were built on international standards, such as OSHA. But deeper issues also had
to be addressed. Traditional education at many institutions in Jordan is organized
around rote learning rather than critical thinking and application of concepts to
real-life situations. For example, as the authors of the Arab Human Development
Report 2003 stated, “In Arab countries, lectures seem to dominate. Students can
do little but memorize, recite, and perfect rote learning…. Communication in
education is didactic, supported by set books containing indisputable texts in
which knowledge is objectified so as to hold incontestable facts, and by an
examination process that only tests memorization and factual recall” (Helmore
and Jamal, Eds, 2003, p. 4). This model of education is not designed to meet the
needs of industries that require technicians to be self-directed.

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In order to produce graduates with the capacity and curiosity needed to
engender continuous learning, the partners engaged industry through the GEC
and PAC to help guide and support the development of industry-aligned
curriculum and labs replicating industry skills and standards, and to create
workplace experiences and internships essential to a student’s capacity to be “job
ready” upon graduation. For the program on solar energy technology, for
example, the partners adapted existing courses in RRCC’s Associates in Applied
Science (AAS) degree in Renewable Energy Technologies. Troy Wanek, chair of
the RRCC Solar Energy Technology Program, made extended visits to Jordan to
join Dr. Maqableh in meetings with industry. These sessions were used to refine
content based on industry specifications. Similarly, the health and safety
curriculum was modeled after existing RRCC certificate programs offered through
the Rocky Mountain Education Center’s OSHA Education and Training Center.
RRCC contacted colleges across the U.S. to collect models of two-year degree
programs on health, safety and the environment. These course outlines and
student outcomes were compared to the student competencies developed by the
program advisory committee in Jordan.
OVERCOMING CHALLENGES:STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS WITH
PRIVATE SECTOR ENGAGEMENT
The partners employed a variety of strategies to create strong, relevant programs
and overcome numerous challenges. Innovative approaches used in the project
went well beyond those commonly seen in public/private education partnerships

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and ideally can be replicated by others seeking to engage in education
partnerships with a workforce focus.
The Footprint Strategy: Given the fledgling state of modern solar photo voltaic
technology in Jordan, the partners recognized two significant potential barriers in
recruiting students for the new program on solar energy technology. First,
Jordanian youth enrolled in colleges are not widely accepting of technical or
vocational career paths. Second, unlike in the United States or Europe, where
rooftop solar photo voltaic (PV) panels are a common sight, the students
attending school at HUC were not familiar with grid tie solar PV technology
(Urdinola, Kuddo, & Semlali, 2013, p. 71). While simple solar thermal systems to
heat water are widely used in Jordan, generating electricity from solar through a
grid tie system was largely unknown.
The partners decided to create a “footprint” on the HUC campus prior to the
program launch. To that end, the chair of the Renewable Energy Program at
RRCC traveled to Jordan to assist in the lab design and installation of the first
solar PV grid tie system. Potential students watched as this dedicated lab space
took shape. The “buzz” created by both the new space with its very visible solar
panels and widely publicized plans to install multiple solar technologies to power
the lab was extremely effective, helping to prompt more than 100 applications to
the degree program for its inaugural term.
In terms of the program on occupational health and safety, the campus in Marka
where the HSE program was to be located did not have the same student traffic.
Project partners had to rely on more traditional marketing of the new program
through existing career advising offices at Al-Balqa Applied University (BAU), but
experienced enrollment challenges due a BAU administrative decision to increase

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student tuition for the program and to designate it as a liberal arts program,
which resulted in admissions requirements for students that did not include the
educational preparation and English language proficiency that the program
required. (This challenge is discussed below.)
Donations From Industry—A Comprehensive Approach: The “footprint”
strategy of creating dedicated labs and classrooms with hands-on equipment
generated more than just enthusiasm among students for learning opportunities
beyond traditional classroom lectures. As a result of the initial footprint project,
Al-Huson University received more than €9 million euros in funding and
donations to expand solar energy installations at the HUC campus. Through the
leveraged funding sources, all buildings on the HUC campus will be powered by
solar energy in 2015. Funders were attracted to HUC as a direct result of the
partnership and have helped make HUC a regional leader in solar energy
technology and workforce education.
Donations of equipment from industry have significantly expedited the goal of
achieving a solar powered campus at Al-Huson. Donations of equipment and
professional services have included solar photovoltaic equipment from Kirchner
Solar and internships from NOOR Solar and Philadelphia Solar. The Jordanian
Technical Vocational Education and Training Fund provided scholarships for
students studying solar energy technology as well as funds for external
instructors, equipment, and lab renovation.
Engaging Industry Stakeholders Through Direct Involvement in Planning:
One of the advisory committee members for the Occupational Health and Safety
Program, Joe Duomani, human resources manager for Consolidated Contractors

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Company (CCC), was pursuing an opportunity to create a legacy in memory of
Hasib Sabbagh, one of the company’s co-founders. Mr. Duomani had been
exploring a partnership with the national Occupational Safety and Health Institute
(OSHI) under the goal of renovating and expanding OSHI to better meet the
needs of Jordan’s construction and industrial employers to train safety officers,
but efforts to arrive at a mutual agreement were not successful. Mr. Duomani
reached out to the partnership as an opportunity materialized to renovate a
building on the Marka campus of the Al Balqa Applied University System.
Involving CCC in the campus renovation gave the company, as the lead industry
partner, the direct influence they were seeking by investing in an educational
program in which all aspects from facilities to curriculum were tailored to meet
their employment needs. The partners assisted the CCC development team in
designing the learning environment that included an industrial hygiene lab and
an outdoor training ground for skill demonstrations of confined space entry, fall
prevention and arrest, scaffolding, trenching, and safe operations of forklifts and
other mid-size heavy equipment. The renovation of the 7,000 square meter
building, named the Hasib Sabbagh Academy, was completed in time for the
inaugural class enrollment fall 2014.
Public Sector Support: The National Energy Research Center, a Jordanian-
government public research institution, contributed expert instructors to teach
three solar program modules, provided photovoltaic modules for lab work, and
also provided internship opportunities for solar energy students. Another factor
in the success of the Solar Energy Technology Program was that the partners
were successful in receiving scholarship funding from the Jordanian Employment,
Technical and Vocational Education and Training Council (E-TVET) for 100 percent
of the students enrolled in the program. The E-TVET funding, created as part of

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the Jordan’s National Agenda 2011-2013, was designed to increase the skills of
Jordanian nationals, given that more than 20 percent of Jordan’s labor force is
made up of foreign workers (Urdinola et al., 2013, p. 71). The high rate of foreign
workers is attributed to the lack of qualified candidates living in Jordan. Programs
such as those developed by HUC and RRCC are helping the Jordanian
government to address this issue.
Focus on Multiple Pathways to Employment: The partners understood that the
most critical component in creating program sustainability hinged on a key
summative measure: student employment upon graduation. Jordan experiences
an extraordinarily high rate of unemployment among college graduates, reaching
as high as fifteen percent (Urdinola et al., 2013, p. 70). Compounding the
unemployment rate in this case was the fact that there are few established
employers in the solar energy industry given the newness of the technology to
the region. Accordingly, the partner’s advanced a strategy to encourage and
create multiple pathways to employment for the graduates of the program on
solar energy technology, including traditional employment in the sector, self-
employment or small business creation, and bridging to university for further
academic training and skills development.
Advisors from industry in the Green Energy Cluster played a vital role in creating
internship and workplace experiences for students prior to graduation. The
students completed capstone projects to demonstrate their ability to use their
new knowledge cumulatively in producing practical applications of solar
technology while showcasing their capacity for critical thinking and real-world
problem solving. The partners recognized that to achieve desired employment
outcomes, students would need support as entrepreneurs. Students considering
small-business ventures were encouraged to develop business plans and

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portfolios featuring the renewable energy projects completed during their
training as part of their capstone. While data on employment placement does not
yet exist for the project, the partners do collect anecdotal evidence of individual
student graduates and will track employment outcomes as the program
proceeds.
Three student success stories illustrate the focus on multiple pathways to
employment and other opportunities:
 Traditional Employment: Manal Abed Al-Gani finished her bachelor’s
degree in physics. Like 70,000 other Jordanian students who graduates
every year, she found herself with no job and very limited prospects. After
completing her BA, Manal enrolled in the Solar Energy Technology
Program, where she was one of 12 female students in the first class of 50.
Manal is now employed at a large solar energy company as a systems
designer, a job usually reserved for engineers. However, in light of her
experience on integrated lab equipment and practicums added by the
USAID project that focused on the technical aspects of solar energy
generation, Manal’s employer found her skills to be well qualified for her
new post.
 Entrepreneurism/Small Business Creation: Mosab Malkawi enrolled in
the second matriculation of the Solar Energy Technology Program. He
demonstrated a keen passion for renewable energy and the importance
the development of this technology has for his country. In his last year in
the program, Mosab successfully recruited investors to open his own solar

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energy business. He now owns one of the first businesses in solar energy
in the north region of Jordan. He has joined the Jordanian Renewable
Energy Society (JRES), and his active involvement positions him well to
achieve his professional goal of one day becoming the director of the
JRES.
 Bridging to University: Sham Baath wants to be an engineer. He knew
that without the necessary exam scores after high school his chances were
very slim. In Jordan each year, less than five percent of students
successfully attain the score they need on the comprehensive exam to
bridge to the engineering track after finishing vocational tracks. Having
completed the Solar Energy Technology Program at HUC, Sham is one of
seven students in the program who successfully met the challenge of the
comprehensive exam. He is now enrolled in an engineering program at
one of the best universities in the country, Jordan University of Science
and Technology.
Leveraging Industry Relationships to Overcome External Challenges: Policy
decisions made outside of the partnership at the university level resulted in the
Occupational Health and Safety Program being classified originally as a liberal
arts program. This classification outside of the engineering pathway resulted in
students being accepted for the program who lacked the educational preparation
or English language proficiency that was required for the curriculum that had
been developed. The partners forwarded recommendations to the Al Baqa
Applied University administration that the program be moved to the engineering
pathway and that student prerequisites for enrollment should follow a prescribed
standard similar to that of the Solar Energy students as outlined by industry
members who advise the program. Perhaps in light of the strong partnership

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between CCC and the HUC project—including the recent creation of the Hasib
Sabbagh Foundation, which provides full scholarships and employment
opportunities for students—BAU administration agreed to make the
recommended changes, which will improve students’ qualifications entering the
health and safety program under its new designation in engineering.
Another challenge was finding engineering faculty with sufficient industry
experience to teach the occupational health and safety curriculum. Even after
several attempts at recruitment, faculty with sufficient knowledge of workplace
hazards in heavy industry and construction were not available. CCC demonstrated
its commitment to the program by recruiting a professional engineer from
industry with occupational safety and health experience to serve as the program
lead faculty and director. CCC also provided funding at a rate beyond that of
university faculty to pay for the services of the new program director.
In addition, CCC provided funding for curriculum adaptations made to courses in
the Occupational Health and Safety Program by Red Rocks Community College.
RRCC supplied a curriculum designer to reformat the courses and student
assessments to allow an introductory level of instruction in safety and health that
also exposed students to very practical hands-on experiences in recognizing and
addressing workplace hazards in industrial and construction work places.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The partners have distilled three primary recommendations targeted primarily for
those involved in or considering educational strategies that seek to improve
participant employment outcomes.

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When Enrolling Students, Use a Rigorous Selection Process Aligned With
Employer Needs: The partnership successfully added the Solar Energy
Technology Program to the engineering pathway, which helped to ensure that
student applicants had educational backgrounds and English language skills
equal to the rigor of the level of study in that program. Also, procedures were put
into place that allowed the program to accept students with higher scores on the
Tawjihi, Jordan’s general secondary national exam, and students who had already
obtained a bachelor’s degree. The ability to accept highly qualified students was
key to the program’s early success in retaining students and exceeding
graduation goals within the program’s first three years.
As discussed above, decisions made outside of the partnership posed challenges
for the Occupational Health and Safety Program when that program was
classified as part of the liberal arts versus engineering pathway. One result of that
decision was that students applying for the Occupational Health and Safety
Program lacked the requisite educational background and English language skills
that the program required. The partnership responded by modifying the
program’s assessment and instruction strategies. However, the partnership did
not consider this modification a long term solution, and continued to advocate
for its classification in the engineering pathway to ensure the appropriate pre-
requisite knowledge. The current class of students in the program is not expected
to graduate at the same rate as students in the solar technology program;
however, future incoming students to the Occupational Health and Safety
Program will enter with more appropriate skills after its classification in
engineering.

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Develop Instructional Staff Before Program Launch and Include Detailed
Plans for Training of Trainers as Part of Program Development: As new
programs are created, consideration must be given to the availability of
instructional staff long-term. While the engineering focus of the program on solar
energy technology helped it attract qualified faculty, the experience with the
program on occupational health and safety was different. The latter program
requires faculty with formal education in the management of health and safety in
the workplace as well as field experience in industry. In the Irbid region,
individuals with such skills are found only in industry and do not have formal
training in teaching at the university level. The launch of the Occupational Health
and Safety Program was therefore significantly challenged by the lack of qualified
faculty. While the private sector partner CCC stepped forward to offer a
competitive salary to allow recruitment of an instructor from industry, which
allowed the program to launch as scheduled, this strategy cannot be considered
a long-term solution given that the associated cost structure is not sustainable.
Efforts are under way to create a train-the-trainer opportunity with a new
commitment from Al-Balqa Applied University to refocus efforts on recruiting
instructors for the Occupational Health and Safety Program who can participate
in intensive training prior to classroom instruction.
Seek Third-party Industry Accreditations to Enhance Program Graduates’
Employability: Degrees alone are not always sufficient to ensure that students
have mastered competencies required by prospective employers. Industry
certifications continue to be a value-added qualification that demonstrates to
employers globally that students graduating in applied technical fields have met
the skill criteria set by a relevant industry. Accreditation by City & Guilds is
recognized by the industry partners associated with both the programs on solar

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energy technology and occupational health and safety. The City & Guilds
accrediting process brings additional value in that pursuing and retaining
accreditation will require a continuous improvement process with appropriate
benchmarks and regular reporting. Dr Maqableh oversees the acquisition of the
City & Guild accreditation for several workforce training programs, such as
welding, and plans to seek accreditation for the programs on solar energy
technology and occupational health and safety.
The partnership sought involvement from a broad range of stakeholders to
ensure the currency of the programs with regard to employer demands and
expectations. Industry advisory members were engaged from the beginning of
program development to guide the curricula objectives and teaching strategies.
The advisory members have been instrumental in providing workplace
experiences to students prior to graduation. Advisors for the program on solar
energy technology have included NOOR Solar and Philadelphia Solar. Advisors
for the program on occupational health and safety have included PepsiCo, PETRA
HVAC, Consolidated Contractors Company, and the As-Samra Wastewater
Treatment Plant. Faculty in the program on solar energy technology have taken
advantage of industry-recognized training opportunities to increase their
knowledge of evolving renewable energy technologies. Faculty participated in a
two-week training from renewable energy companies in Germany, and the HUC
partnership director Dr. Ayman Maqableh completed HSE training in OSHA
standards during a J-1 visa visit to the U.S. partner.
FURTHER OBSERVATIONS

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In closing, two further observations warrant mentioning.
The Implicit Value of Engagement by Industry Partners Cannot be
Overstated: The strong tradition of workforce development at community
colleges offers many opportunities to engage with the private sector. Employers
have a vested interest in increasing the relevancy of technical and vocational
degree programs and aligning the skills of graduates with the needs of industry.
Public-private partnerships build mutually-beneficial relationships by engaging
employers with higher education institutions through such activities as
developing curriculum, designing and equipping lab space, or creating
internships and pathways to employment. Many private-sector partners have an
interest not just in creating better-trained graduates, but in creating a legacy of
contributing value to their industry. For example, the development of the new
solar energy lab space on the HUC campus and renovation of an entire Al-Balqa
Applied University campus for the Occupational Health and Safety Program by
Consolidated Contractors Company were invaluable in engendering enthusiasm
among students for the opening of the programs. The value of this participation
cannot be overstated—indeed, it is vital for a program’s success.
All Program Partners Must Agree to Help Ensure Successful Program
Outcomes: While unemployment in Jordan affects the working class the most, it
also afflicts the middle class. Given this context, training must take into
consideration the potential societal effect of the instruction. If students are not
employable at the end of a program, the training may be considered worse than
no program at all.
Unless every stakeholder—including government, private industry, higher
education, and program participants—agrees and commits to the outcome of

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training, individuals who successfully complete educational programs may still
find themselves unable to find employment. Direct employer engagement at
every stage of the student’s learning experience through internships, guest
lecturing, job shadowing, mentoring, and engagement with faculty helps to
ensure that students are job-ready at graduation. Toward these goals, the
partners sought and received commitments from industry, educational
institutions, and the Jordanian government prior to developing and
implementing the programs. The partners were successful in sustaining these
commitments because students had the skills upon graduation that employers
requested and expected. To further help ensure successful student outcomes, the
program partners emphasized diversification in student learning, including
development of portfolios and skills in marketing themselves to potential
employers.
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